Chapter 23 #2
“Yes, I do, and she’s alive and well,” he said, which brought the pink to Louise’s face.
She crumpled her hamburger wrapper and walked over to a nearby trash can.
“She really is Jessica Fletcher,” he said under his breath. “Are you Nancy Drew?”
“No. And you know who Nancy Drew is?”
“Stepsisters. Remember? But even Nancy would give me a pass.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Once you’ve jumped to conclusions, it’s hard to get away from them.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Eventually you’ll both see I’m not so bad. How’s the dog doing, by the way? Is he ready for some more obedience training?”
“He might be,” said Zona, and smiled. Alec wasn’t a murderer or an abuser. Maybe he was going to turn out to be a good neighbor after all.
If she and her mother didn’t drive him out of the neighborhood.
“SO, HE’S ACTUALLY NICE,” Zona said when she and Gracie met for coffee on Zona’s lunch break later that week, and went on to tell her friend about how Alec had come to the rescue with car repairs.
“Your mom has to be so disappointed,” Gracie joked.
“She’ll have to go back to getting her thrills watching Deathline,” said Zona.
“And how about you? How are you going to get your thrills?” Gracie asked.
“Not with the neighbor,” Zona said, as much to herself as her friend. She tried not to think about that zing she’d gotten when Alec shook her hand in his truck cab. “We’re just being neighborly.”
“It could turn into more,” Gracie suggested.
“No. No more. I’ve struck out twice and that’s enough.”
“Never say never.”
“Unless you mean it. I’m resolved.”
“Hot guys have a way of melting resolve.”
“Not mine. He’s got baggage.”
“Does he have an ex?”
“Yes, but it’s the stepsister who’s the problem.”
“Maybe that’s why he’s got an ex.”
And maybe that was why Zona wasn’t going to be getting any more neighborly with him.
EXCEPT DOG TRAINING didn’t count as getting neighborly.
“So, what is the deal with your ex?” she asked him that night when they were working with Darling.
“The short version? She couldn’t stand my family.”
“Angela?”
“Yeah. Ariel’s not so bad. She got her life together and is doing okay.”
“Did you have kids together, you and your ex?” Zona asked.
He shook his head. “Couldn’t. Maybe that’s just as well. Things get complicated when you split and you’ve got kids. Right, buddy?” he asked, and gave Darling’s ears a rub. Darling agreed by trying to lick his hand. “Kind of wish we had, but oh, well.”
“Be glad you didn’t. You don’t have to deal with the anger,” Zona said.
“Your kid’s angry?”
“Her dad is barely in her life and her stepdad raided her college savings.”
“So, angry.”
“She hates men and she’s never getting married. Thanks to me.”
“You’re not the one who screwed up. Why do you take the blame?”
“I don’t take it. She gives it to me. She thinks I should have been psychic.”
“People are unpredictable,” he said.
“Including you?”
His only answer was a half smile and a huff, then he returned his attention to Darling. “Okay . . . Darling.” He shook his head. “Sorry you got such a wussy name.”
“It’s a cute name, and my mother picked it.”
“As if I couldn’t guess. No man would be so mean to a male dog. You need to learn to stay,” he finished, addressing Darling.
Darling wasn’t the only one who needed to learn that lesson. Zona needed to stay, too. Right where she was, single and safe.
They finished with Darling and Alec went back to his own house. But not before he suggested Zona go hiking with him on the weekend. “Give Darling some exercise.”
“After his last escape, I don’t see my mother letting him out of her sight.”
“Okay. Will she let you out of her sight? I promise not to—” he began.
“If you say cut me up in little pieces, I’ll smack you,” she said, and he laughed.
A laugh. A genuine laugh out of Alec James. She stared at him in surprise.
His brows shot down. “What?”
“You laughed.”
He looked thoughtful. “What do you know. I did. Haven’t done that in a while.” Then he smiled. “I guess it was time.”
“Maybe it was,” she said.
THE REST OF the week hurried by. Zona received her car back, good as new.
Darling had another obedience lesson, and Zona made some good tips driving people around on Friday night.
Saturday morning, she found several treasures hitting garage sales with Louise and Martin, and Sunday morning she put on her hiking boots and prepared to hike the Bonnie Cove West and East Trail Loop with Alec.
It was a moderate hike, with some nice views of Glendora and a few challenging inclines.
Good for her health, she convinced herself.
“Hiking in the wilderness. Alone with that man we barely know. Except we know he’s got a temper,” Louise had said when Zona had shared her plans.
“And he bought us hamburgers. Nothing bad is going to happen. And besides, you’re the one who nominated him as a love candidate in the first place,” Zona reminded her.
“I wish you’d quit bringing that up. I changed my mind.”
“And now we know he’s not a murderer.”
“We also know he comes complete with a crazy family. And an ex.”
“I come with two. I’m ahead of him by one. This will not turn into anything, trust me. I’ve been burned enough,” Zona had assured her.
But she was finding that easy to forget as she and Alec made their way up the trail.
The sun warmed her back and her face, but it was Alec who was warming her heart.
He’d had coffee waiting in his truck for her and he’d packed snacks and water for them both.
He was a completely different man than the angry version who they’d heard on the other side of the fence. Was this the real Alec?
We hope so, said her starved hormones. He did look good in his jeans and T-shirt and hiking boots.
And when they finished the hike and sat down at the picnic table at the trailhead to finish off their water bottles, the hint of his cologne mixed with the musky smell of overheated male upped her heart rate higher than it had been when they’d hiked up the incline.
He was sitting close enough to her that she could feel the warmth from his body and she found herself wishing he’d kiss her.
Then she scolded herself for it. Won’t turn into anything serious, remember? She didn’t need to be kissing him. Shouldn’t even be with him. Was her protective wall of caution crumbling? Not good.
We need to stop this right now, she informed her hormones.
They weren’t listening.
“What are you thinking?”
His words jerked her back into the moment and her heart began to pick up its pace again. “What?”
“Just wondering what was going on inside your head.”
“Honestly? I was wondering what on earth I’m doing here with you.”
“Enjoying a nice day?”
“You know what I mean.”
He nodded. “Taking a chance. Look, Zona, I’m not going to pressure you to sleep with me if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Well, darn. Just joking,” she added.
We’re not, chorused her hormones.
“Not that I wouldn’t want to,” he said, and his words coupled with his smile struck her heart like an electric charge.
“You’re a beautiful woman. But we’re hanging out, that’s all.
Starting new diplomatic relations.” He smiled at her.
That smile looked delicious. “Now that we’re not hissing and growling at each other, I kind of like being with you. ”
And she was liking being with him. And that was scary.
“I don’t want to do relationships anymore,” she said. She didn’t want to cry, to feel unloved or unsafe or angry. Her exes had taken her there. She had no intention of making a return trip.
“We all do relationships,” he said. “We just do some better than others.”
She looked at those hazel eyes of his. He had nice eyes. And a nice mouth. Nice chin. He had nice everything. No, make that great everything. Why was he alone?
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Been too busy with work. And Angela,” he added with a frown. “I’ve been divorced four years, but dating hasn’t really worked out. Makes it hard to have a relationship when you have family drama in your life all the time.”
“Hard on a marriage, too?” she suggested.
He nodded. “My wife got tired of the drama. She told me I needed to cut the cord. I didn’t.”
“Couldn’t,” Zona supplied. “Your stepsisters were family.”
“It was toxic. I should have listened to my wife,” he finished wistfully. “Anyway, water under the bridge. I’m ready to move on,” he added, hitting her with that smile again.
It was magnetic.
“I’m sure not,” she said, determined to resist the pull.
Don’t fall for this man. You hardly know him and you don’t want to know his family.
So very true. She assured her common sense that she was not going to fall.
But she had tripped. Not good.